Waltham’s ‘amusement park’ plan on Fernald School land draws criticism and praise

People with disabilities suffered for years at the former Fernald State School in Waltham. The city is looking to create a massive recreational site with an electric train, while some residents say there weren't enough public meetings on the issue.

The Walter E. Fernald State School in Waltham has a controversial history dating back to the 1880s as the Western Hemisphere’s first state school for people with intellectual disabilities. Now, Waltham’s plans to turn it into an “amusement park” have been met with both outrage and support.

The Fernald, which closed in 2014, moved to Trapelo Road in Waltham in the 1880s and housed around 2,600 residents at its peak in the 1960s. Residents were abused, malnourished, and neglected. Some incarcerated residents weren’t disabled and were forced to work for the school to save money, according to the City of Waltham.

Some boys were even fed radioactive isotopes in their oatmeal — a notorious science project conducted by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with Quaker Oats.

Fernald closes, Waltham acquires in 2014

The sprawling 200-acre property had more than 70 buildings before Waltham spent $3.7 million in 2014 to buy the land, mostly with Community Preservation Act funds, saying it intends to use it for open space recreation and historic preservation.

A large, “ambitious” project was approved in 2022 — complete with an electric train, mini golf, open green space, tennis and pickleball courts, a massive athletic complex, eight parking lots, an amphitheater, and a universal playground for children with disabilities.

One city councilor said the electric train gives justification to call the project an “amusement park,” which another said is “abhorrent.”

“Using this type of language is an insult to the many children and adults of all abilities and non-abilities who yearn for a park just like this,” City Councilor Joey LaCava said in December. “This abhorrent behavior should not be tolerated.”

A petition with nearly 1,000 signatures alleges that the city hasn’t taken proper care of the site. The Fernald, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, has been defaced repeatedly by vandals, and the City has already demolished about 25 buildings on the site.

The Boston Globe also reported on confidential Massachusetts State Police reports left strewn about the Fernald, and another writer described patient files all around the campus.

“This is not what people asked for,” former City Councilor Jonathan Paz said in December. “I have not once heard someone say, ‘The best thing to do in a place where historical injustices happened is to put an amusement park.'”

In October of 2023, the city said that open space along Trapelo Road with a large pond and wetlands was restored. The city said two parcels on the northern part of the property would be next.

Petition accuses Waltham of low-profile meetings, while councilors say it’s been decades in the making

At a Waltham City Council meeting in December, members approved $9.5 million loan authorization for the “Universal and Memorial areas of the property.” The 16.6 acres will have a memorial for the school’s former residents, a universal play area, a spray park, the electric train, and a 18-hole mini golf course.

A memorial for the residents of the Fernald will include “historical information, seating, flag pole, plantings sea walls, and brail (sic.) trail.” The City of Waltham said the “Guardians of the former Fernald school” consulted for the memorial, which some said is too small.

Residents have raised concerns of transparency, multiple city councilors said at December’s meeting. Former City Councilor George Darcy said abutters weren’t involved in the final plan. Residents were told they could review three plans, but it never materialized, he said.

City Councilor Sean Durkee replied that the three plans were all combined. Durkee, who voted for the $9.5 million allocation, pointed out that the Fernald Reuse Committee has been meeting since 2004.

“No one has been denied the opportunity to give input to the Fernald. No one,” Durkee said. “But at some point you have to make a decision.”

The Waltham Recreation Board approved the 2022 plan in an “unusual” summer meeting, which left constituents out of the loop, the petition claims.

“That plan came out in the middle of the summer at a time when the recreation board did not normally meet,” said Diana Young, the former chair of the Waltham Community Preservation Committee.

Public meeting in March

Darcy also called the plan “piecemeal,” which some residents echoed in a March public meeting. Residents lobbied a variety of concerns at the city councilors at the meeting on March 27, from trees to traffic to accessibility to moving Consolidated Public Works onto the property.

Owl Hill, a beloved sledding hill, has also been leveled, residents say, but the plan calls for a sledding hill near the playground. Some said the land should be used for affordable housing, while others spoke positively about the recreation plan.

The city said construction on the 16.6 acres of parks “could commence” in 2024, but there’s no completion date projected.

Bryan Parcival, who worked to photograph the abandoned Fernald, spoke at the public meeting. He said when Waltham bought the property, multiple residential buildings could’ve been converted into housing almost immediately. There was also a fully functioning hospital on the site before Waltham cut the water and power.

“None of those original residential buildings, save one North Hall, can be easily repurposed at this point,” Parcival said, who spoke in favor of preserving the historic buildings. “There was a missed opportunity.”